Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Son Rises

I am Kevin, the son of the one who has been recently posting this blog. As he stated in his last post, my father will be leaving for two weeks. I will keep everyone updated while he is away and give you my perspective on beekeeping. I know that he has never mentioned me before but I have always been learning right with him.

I, as my father, am also quite interested in this "hobby." It may sound odd but it is quite interesting to watch the bees fly in and around the hive searching for ways to store up for the winter. Today was the first time that I have gotten the chance to actually look inside the hive because my father just recently ordered me a suit. It was quite interesting.

As you can see from the pictures, on each frame there are an amazing amount of bees. My father told me that there were an excessive of 20,000 bees in the hive but did not see how that was possible. I only saw the few bees when i change the sugar water. We also saw the queen bee, which was quite noticeably larger than the others. She was amidst all the others but was much larger than the others.

I will post a blog on here quite often to keep you and my father aware of what is happening on "Antcliff Farms."

Dictionary

Brood Box - where the brood (the eggs, larva and young bees) are raised. Normally the bottom most box.

Checkerboarding - Interspersing empty brood comb (or even foundation) into the brood area. This is done to give the queen more room to raise brood and hopefully not swarm.

Entrance Reducer - Just a wooden stick made to fit in the entrance and make the entrance smaller. This will help keep in heat and allow the bees to guard the entrance better against bees that do not belong to the hive (robber bees).

Orientation Flight - The first trip out of the hive by young bees. They try to understand their location so they can make it back home. Also occurs when the hive is moved.